Tuscan Soup
For this recipe, you will need chicken broth, three large potatoes, one onion, three links of spicy Italian sausage, one bunch of fresh spinach, evaporated milk, and ground black pepper.
To prep for this recipe, you will need to chop your onion, cube your potatoes, and wash and chop the fresh spinach.
Remove the skin from the sausage. Place it in a frying pan over medium heat and crumb it as it cooks. Add the chopped onion and continue to cook until the sausage is no longer pink. Add the sausage and onions to a large cooking pot. Add six cups of chicken stock and the cubed potatoes. Turn the burner on high and let this boil until the potatoes are tender. Add the chopped spinach and continue until it is lightly cooked.
Remove the pot from the heat and stir in 1/4 cup of evaporated milk. Add salt and pepper as desired.
Midsummer Italian Bread Salad
For this recipe, you will need garlic cloves, a loaf of Italian bread (slightly stale if possible), one tomato, one cucumber, one red onion, fresh basil, fresh thyme, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar. You will also need a large wooden bowl for this recipe (if possible).
To prep for this recipe, you will need to chop enough of the tomato, red onion, and cucumber to make one cup of each. Mince one garlic clove and peel one garlic clove. Chop enough basil to make two cups and enough thyme to make 1/8 cup. If your bread is not stale, toast it.
Rub the peeled garlic clove in the wooden bowl. Cut or pull the bread into bite size pieces. Combine the bread with one cup of chopped tomatoes, one cup of chopped cucumbers, one cup of chopped red onion, the clove of minced garlic, 1/8 cup of chopped thyme, and 2 cups of chopped basil. Add 1/4 cup of olive oil and 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar then toss well.